Speech
of
His Excellency Fidel V. Ramos
President of the Philippines
On signing into law of various bills on education

[Delivered at Malacañang, Manila, August 25, 1994]

Reforms for quality
of education

TODAY WE BREAK new ground, and aim for higher goals in the Filipino’s continuing search for means by which to win the future.

We stand at the frontier of major and far-reaching improvements in education. We leave behind the darkness of ignorance and backwardness caused by the lack of quality education. Ahead beckons a horizon of hope and opportunity for a great number of our people.

We can go far into that horizon, if—as we do today—we commit ourselves and our resources fully to the growth of the Filipino mind.

We very often speak of growth and of growth objectives in material terms. And that, to me, is a necessary and gainful endeavor. But surely, you and I must realize that material growth cannot be achieved without a corresponding effort to increase our people’s intellectual capacity and moral strength.

Improving the reach and quality of education

That is the task of education, which—more than being just a means to wealth—is the right of every citizen to receive, and the responsibility of Government to provide.

Today we renew and strengthen that commitment as we sign into law several bills to reform education. Together with those previously enacted, these new laws should make a major difference in the reach and the quality of the education we can provide our people.

Surely, all these collectively will also promote people empowerment, global competitiveness and sustainable development pursuant to our shared vision of “Philippines 2000.”

During the first two years of my Administration, we addressed ourselves to providing universal access to education for our schoolchildren.

We have established elementary schools in barangays and high schools in municipalities where there were none, and started the offering of Grades One to Six through an alternative strategy of multigrade teaching.

I am happy to report that our programs are now largely in place, and that adequate budgetary resources have been allocated to meet our targets.

Initiatives

Today, we must step up our efforts to improve the quality of education.

At the basic level, we see a need to strengthen the teaching of English, science and mathematics. We also recognize the importance of promoting basic Filipino values such as love of country, pride in being a Filipino, honesty, civic consciousness and respect for law and order, among others.

Following these principles, and in all our schools today, we must prepare young Filipinos and students to be responsible, productive and enlightened citizens of a much higher quality than they are now.

We have liberalized regulations for private tertiary schools and rationalized the operations of State colleges and universities. These moves have resulted in more relevant and responsive program offerings for the postsecondary technical and vocational course, as well as tertiary degree programs.

These initiatives will enable us very soon to produce a globally competitive human resource base. And this will be true not only in Metro Manila, but also and especially in the countryside and our far-flung regions.

As the twenty-first century approaches, we will need to be more competitive in science and information technology. The main battleground of the future will be in these areas, and we cannot wait until the battle is upon us to prepare ourselves for its challenges.

Our schools, our colleges, our universities and our manpower training centers must therefore refocus their programs to reflect this higher priority.

The family of vital education reform bills enacted by Congress and approved by me since February this year manifests our national commitment to this urgent need.

One new law establishes a science and technology scholarship program which will finance annually the education of some 3,500 poor, talented and deserving students who will form the pool of the country’s science and technology manpower.

Structural reforms in education

Another is the dual training law which institutionalizes a novel concept of education and training through a combination of in-school and in-plant process.

The recent abolition of the National Collegiate Entrance Examination enhances enrollment by our high-school graduates in short-term, nondegree technical-vocational courses. A technical-vocational student no longer has to bear the stigma of failure, but can now look forward to doing his best where aptitude lies.

These structural reforms in education are being put in place just as we shape up for takeoff in terms of sustained growth and long-term socioeconomic development.

At this point, the need to match supply and demand for quality and high-tech manpower services is crucial. With the liberalization of the flow of services and goods within ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific region, it is imperative for educational and training programs to change so as to meet regional and global standards of excellence and to gear themselves toward the delivery of high-tech and high-value services.

These structural reforms will provide for a more focused supervision and monitoring of the efficiency and effectiveness of elementary and secondary programs by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports.

This will apply as well to postsecondary nondegree technical and vocational programs, through the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority; and to tertiary degree programs, by the newly established Commission on Higher Education.

Other reforms

Among the other educational reforms that I have recently promulgated are four which deserve special mention on this occasion.

These are (1) creating a Legal Education Board; (2) establishing centers of excellence in teacher education; (3) lengthening the school calendar; and (4) amending Section 25 of Batas Pambansa 232 (Education Act of 1982).

The Legal Education Board will address the need to improve our legal education system, particularly in such vital areas as the proper selection of law students, maintaining the quality of law schools, and requiring legal apprenticeship and continuing legal education.

A national system of excellence for teacher education established under Republic Act 7784 should strengthen preservice education of teachers nationwide.

At the same time, there will be increased student-teacher contact time and therefore an anticipated improvement in pupil achievement by the lengthening of the school calendar to 220 days. With respect to Section 25 of Batas Pambansa 232 on the establishment of schools-a major concern of private-school administrators represented by the Confederation of Coordination Councils of Private Educational Associations—the law now allows the establishment also of stock educational corporations, but exempts family-administered preschools from the requirement to incorporate.

For sure, there will be more reforms and improvements required of our educational system. But I believe that we now have enough good laws to support our most urgent priorities.

This body of educational reforms, especially, will ensure that we not only improve the quality of education, provide enhanced government assistance for deserving schools and encourage professionalism even at the preservice level.

It is now for the Departments of Education, Science and Technology, Labor, the Commission on Higher Education and other executive agencies to follow through on these legislative initiatives, through aggressive implementing programs at the executive level.

Productive investments

I close by expressing once more my deep appreciation to all of you for your contributions toward the legislative-executive agenda that will make Philippine education work for our people as we move in the twenty-first century.

I especially thank Senate President Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Congressional Commission on Education, and Speaker Jose de Venecia for their legislative statesmanship in steering these long-delayed educational reforms successfully through Congress. Equally deserving of our commendations are the authors and sponsors of these key measures. I thank also our education officials in the public and private sectors, and the leaders of academe for their valued contributions.

I am grateful as well as to our special friends, such as the delegation from the Association of Filipino Teachers in America, who spend their summers in the Philippines conducting a “Balik-Turo” program, in coordination with the Education Department and the Commission on Overseas Workers.

With the kind of enthusiasm and cooperation displayed by our leaders and concerned citizens these days, I am doubly certain that our investments in the development of the Filipino youth and the Filipino mind will be among the most productive we have ever made, and will redound most significantly to the welfare of the Filipino people.